Sunday, 19 October 2014

'Good morning, I would like to borrow these beek, please.'
'I beg you pardon?'
'I would like to borrow these beek.'

You have probably already inferred that the awkwardness in the dialogue was caused by the use of the word 'beek.' But it actually used to be the plural of 'book' in the past, just as 'eggru' was the plural of 'egg.' If you're an etymology geek (freak?) like me, watch this video by TED and learn a bit about old plural forms in English.